Public Access Defibrillators - St John Scotland

Public Access Defibrillators

St John Scotland is proud to have placed many life-saving Public Access Defibrillators (PADs) in locations across Scotland.

Approximately 3,500 people undergo attempted resuscitation each year after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but currently only around 1 in 20 survive. Defibrillation works in synergy with CPR, and is most effective the earlier it is performed. Delivering a defibrillatory electrical shock to the heart within 3-5 minutes of collapse can produce survival rates as high as 75%. (source: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest, A strategy for Scotland, The Scottish Government, March 2015)

In 2008, St John Scotland placed PADs in towns and villages around Angus, which are maintained by local St John First Responders. St John Scotland defibrillators have also been placed in the likes of West Lothian, Perth and Galashiels.

In 2015, St John Scotland, in partnership with Network Rail, installed four PADs in Edinburgh’s Waverley Station. The defibrillators were deployed four times in the first year, saving two people.

An agreement was signed with Scottish Golf in January 2015 that would result in around 70 defibrillators being provided Golf Clubs across the country over three years. Although this programme has now reached completion, it was widely considered a great success.

In 2016, St John Scotland’s Edinburgh team launched the St John and the City Defibrillator Project. Initially, the project aimed to deploy twenty PADs across the City of Edinburgh in its first year. However, following the success of the launch event, the charity well exceeded this target, receiving 35 pledges for PADs across the city in its first phase of the project.

On Valentines Day 2017, St John Scotland teamed up with Edinburgh Trams and various donor businesses to install defibrillators on the fleet of trams in and around the city.

Edinburgh's Past Lord Provost Donald Wilson launched the project. He said: "Nobody in Edinburgh should need to think twice before using a defibrillator in an emergency, which is why I am delighted St John and the city will be offering advice and training to tram staff. Not only can the machines help passengers in need, they can be taken off the carriage and used at tram stations."